I am not in love with my job but I like it. I do not wake up every Monday morning with a smile on my face but I think that 70% of what I do is at least interesting. My wife works in fashion and has to reinvent herself every season; working in finance, you have to reinvent yourself regularly as well, with the only difference that no one gives you a calendar: “there are decades where nothing happens and there are weeks where decades happens” said Lenin. Even when nothing happens, something is happening in the markets, because that sector is outperforming another or a Central Bank might change its policy in a year time.
What I like most about my job is that it gives me options. When we were tired of living in Switzerland (mostly my wife was tired), we decided that our next move could be London or Amsterdam: I found a job in both cities. Most importantly, I have a reasonable amount of paid holidays and a salary to travel wherever I want, in the way I want to (good riddance Ryanair, you will not be missed). What I do not like about my job is that I have to ‘thank’ my boss, or my boss’s boss, everyday for the opportunity they give me; my career has a due date: the more the time passes, the less chance I have to find someone else to thank in case I would be unemployed. And what if I reach F.I.R.E.? What would I do if I am not forced to work? Do I have a plan B?
One of the ideas, one that I can even test now without leaving my job, is to become a ‘financial coach’, teach friends how to save and invest their money. Easier said than done.
Based on my experience, you can divide people that do not work in finance in two categories: people who do not care at all about saving and investing (66%), who consider banks like institutionalised thieves, and people who care too much (33%), and are only looking for stock tips. The latter category can be further divided between people that are already financially comfortable and want to join the 1% (they mostly ask you because they want to check their investment thesis just in case, as they are already sure that being successful in selling FB ads makes them a great investor), and baristas who would never think they can perform surgery but are convinced they can crack the stock market in their spare time. Both are equally interested in Bitcoins, when its price makes an all time high.
You have to teach the same principles to all of them but how to start the conversation with each category requires a different approach. As for any coaching job, think about your high school sport coach, first you need the other person to trust you. Without trust you cannot build commitment and without commitment all your lessons will be like words in the wind.
You need to be there at the right moment. ‘Downtown’ Josh Brown made this comment about financial help but again this is valid for each form of coaching. If your job career is proceeding at your desired pace, you would never think to look for a performance coach; if you have sexual success, you would not think to hit the gym…or the barber…or ask for fashion advice.
If you are reading this blog, you know that people have biases and correcting them is like 90% of the job. The other 10% is to make your audience understand that this exercise is to make them financially independent, give them options, not to handle them their first Porsche keys. The unfortunate truth is that behavioural finance is more useful to trick people than to help them; just telling people they have biases is going to be counterproductive, you have to nudge them in the right way. We all have the same biases but we are all different: you might approach this thinking that the person in front of you made the same mistakes as you but it is not that simple. Michael Lewis in his podcast talks with this woman who had fear to even check her bank account balance, as long as her card was accepted she was fine. When I heard that I was like “ok, that’s new to me”. First you have to be in the position to understand the singularity of each situation.
One thing is to show people data and benefits of doing the right think, another is to make them understand (and maybe you as well) that no one lives in an Excel spreadsheet. The classic spiel of FIRE is to show that if you save X amount each month, invest and compound you can reach a million in Y years. Take this year as an example: the S&P500 today is +12% compared to where it was one year ago, this is what your spreadsheet is going to show; the part that no one sees but we all felt at the time was the market dropping more than 30% in a span of weeks. What you do not see in Excel is how much more painful is a 30% drop when you have a million invested compared to when you have only 10k.
Until lately I did not have much hope in this endeavour. Two accidental discoveries gave me an additional drive.
First, I found Tyrone Ross on Twitter. Listening to his podcast The Human Advisor opened my eyes on how financial advisory can be tailored to different audiences. Then, last week I interviewed a student, part of my employer student placement program; each student had to prepare a pitch to convince us to invest in one charity of their choice: she choose a program to teach kids in middle and high school financial concepts from the basics up to things that are going to massively influence their lives like credit card debt or student loans. Her presentation was exactly on point: maybe this is the way to go? Trying to fill the gaps in our kids standard education? It was not the first time I read about the idea but coming from someone in her early 20s reinforced the need in my mind.
Bonus Track
I bought my first (piece of) Basquiat via Masterworks.io
If you are curious to understand how it works, or simply interested in investing in contemporary art, send me an email! I do not have any affiliation with them, so I can give you an unbiased opinion. I researched various ways to invest in art (beside the obvious one, buying an artwork) and I am one of the initial investors in Artvisor.com, for which I have biased praises 😉
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